variable

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈveəriəb(ə)l/ (UK); /ˈveriəb(ə)l/, /ˈværiəb(ə)l/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English, borrowed from Old French variable (“various, changeable, fickle”) and directly Late Latin variabilis (“changeable”),^[2][3][4] from variāre (“to change”) (see vary) and -abilis, -able.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of persons, apt to change, fickle: 1387, in Trevisa's translation of Higden's Polychronicon.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Lack of uniformity, diversity, is from the late 14th century,^[3] and subject to change, capable of being altered, by about 1400.^[3] Of the weather and seasons it is from the late 15th century,^[3] and of stars, variable star, from 1788.^[2][3] In mathematics, quantitatively indeterminate is from 1710,^[3] and the noun, a quantity that can vary, from 1816.^[2][3][4] A symbol for a variable quantity in logic and mathematics is first recorded in 1910.^[2]

Timeline

• 1387 – fickle.^[2]
• c. 1400 – subject to change.^[3]
• late 15th century – of weather.^[3]
• 1788 – variable star.^[2]
• 1816 – the noun.^[2]
• 1910 – a symbol in logic.^[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Likely to change; changeable: variable weather.
2. Inconstant; fickle.
3. Tending to differ from the normal type.
4. (mathematics) Having no fixed value.

Noun

1. Something that varies or tends to vary.
2. (mathematics) A quantity that can take any of a set of values, or a symbol for it.
3. A variable star.

Word family

• variableness
• variably
• variability
• hypervariable
• nonvariable
• unvariable

Related words

• variable star
• vary
• variety
• variance
• variation
• various
• invariable

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press